I didn't do anything—
He had originally thought that the little girls in Konoha were a special case. He hadn't expected the girls in the world of Demon Slayer to be even more intense, if not more so.
On the bustling street, a boy with a scar on his forehead was screaming hysterically in the direction of a man in a Western suit and brimmed hat.
"Kibutsuji Muzan, I will never forgive you! No matter where you go, I'll chase you to the ends of Hell to take your head! I will absolutely never forgive you—"
However, even as he shouted, his body didn't pursue. He was desperately holding down another man.
This man had just scratched his own wife. The reason was that Kibutsuji Muzan, while passing by, had grazed the man's neck, allowing a bit of his Demon King blood to seep in.
Immediately, the man's eyes had turned bloodshot, and he writhed on the ground in agony, contorted in pain. Then, in the process of transforming into a demon, he had tried to eat his own wife.
To prevent casualties among the crowd, the kind-hearted boy had no choice but to give up chasing Kibutsuji Muzan, even though Muzan was the murderer of his entire family.
"Hey, hey! Let go of that man, or we won't be so polite~" The police, who had arrived upon hearing the commotion, knew nothing about demons. They only saw the man's wife lying in a pool of blood.
Seeing the boy struggling with another ferocious-looking man, they brandished their batons, about to step in and restrain them.
"I'm sorry, I can't let him go! No one else can control him! More people will get hurt otherwise!" the boy cried out, flustered. How could he explain? "No one here but me can stop him! Please don't come closer! Get away quickly!"
Just when the boy was at his wit's end, a gentle, pleasant voice came from the crowd.
"Blood Demon Art: Bewitching Blood, Scent of Illusory Blood."
The people on the street suddenly saw scenes of flowers dancing everywhere; everyone had fallen into an illusion.
"Ahh, what is this?" "Nani~ What's happening? Why are there flowers everywhere?"
The boy stared intently in one direction, because a woman in a kimono and a boyish attendant were slowly approaching. Their scent—it was that of demons.
"Allow me to help you," the woman in the kimono said gently.
"This scent... you're a demon?!" the boy with the scar on his head exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right. I am a demon, and also a doctor. My name is Tamayo—"
[Her scent is very pure; she isn't lying.]
An hour later, in Tamayo's house, the wife who had been scratched by the demonized man lay sleeping on a sickbed.
"I'm sorry, that lady, is she?" the scarred boy asked.
Tamayo said with regret, "She will be fine. However, her husband..." "Although we feel terrible about it, her husband has been tied up and locked in the cellar..."
Tamayo stood up and said to the boy, "Let me introduce myself. I am Tamayo, and this is Yushiro. We are both demons. Because of my profession as a doctor, we only need a very small amount of blood to survive, so we don't need to eat humans."
"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Kamado Tanjiro. This is my sister, Nezuko. She's also a demon," the boy, Tanjiro, stood up and introduced his sister, letting her out of the wooden box he carried.
"I believe you are not demons who kill indiscriminately, because you have a clear scent, free of lies. By the way, Miss Tamayo, do you know a way to turn a demon back into a human? My sister Nezuko is also a demon, but she has never eaten a human. I'm searching everywhere for a way to turn her back."
This was his special ability: an incredible sense of smell that could not only detect various odors but also the scent of emotions.
Tamayo pondered for a moment and said, "For many years, I too have been searching for a way to turn demons back into humans. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to collect enough demon blood. Otherwise, I might have been able to develop a cure. Yushiro is the only child I've managed to convert into a demon in two hundred years."
Young Tanjiro was astounded. "Two... two hundred years?! Excuse me, how old are you?"
Yushiro, at the side, immediately flew into a rage and punched Tanjiro in the stomach. "You bastard! Don't ask a lady her age~!"
Nezuko looked blankly from her brother to them, then, bored, lay on the floor and started rolling around.
While they were talking in the clinic, two demons were tracking the scarred boy, Tanjiro, through the streets. This was an order from their master, Kibutsuji Muzan.
The pair consisted of a male and a female. The male had eyes on the palms of his hands, and the female had several arms, each holding a temari ball...
"Ah, the medicine has run out! Nagi-kun, I'm going to Doctor Tamayo's to get some more!" Kagome called out towards the basement before skipping cheerfully out the door.
Uchiha Nagi, who was conducting an experiment, acknowledged her. But for some reason, after she left, he felt increasingly restless and uneasy, even knocking over a few test tubes during his work.
"What's going on? Why do I feel so unsettled, yet there's no sense of danger?" Uchiha Nagi paused, the test tube in his hand, and frowned.
He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and continued the experiment, but the strong feeling of agitation persisted.
"Hmph~" Uchiha Nagi put down the test tube and went out of the basement for some fresh air.
Night had fallen, and the lights of countless homes were already lit. The human settlements with electricity looked dazzling, as if he had returned to the modern era...
"It's already night, huh? Autumn and winter days pass so quickly..." Uchiha Nagi looked at the sky; it was already dark. Wait—
He suddenly remembered where his unease was coming from. This peaceful world had no ninja, but it did have creatures that could only come out at night—demons.
After awakening his Mangekyo Sharingan, Uchiha Nagi's spiritual energy was exceptionally strong. He was certain his agitation wasn't without reason. That could only mean one thing: danger.
Kagome was in danger—
At this thought, Uchiha Nagi's eyes snapped open, the three tomoe appearing within them. Swoosh— The next second, he leaped onto a rooftop and vanished.
"Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust – Curve."
The protagonist of the Demon Slayer world, Tanjiro, was using Water Breathing to fight two demons who had followed his scent to Tamayo's house. It was a male and a female, subordinates sent by Kibutsuji Muzan to hunt him.
"It's an honor for you to be killed by me, one of the Twelve Kizuki! Come on, let's play together until dawn, hahaha!" The woman with six arms laughed excitedly.
"Hey, Susamaru, that kid's head, the one with the hanafuda-like earrings, remember not to smash it. We need to take it back to report. Tch~ Tastes awful." The other, a male demon, was holding a pale arm, his mouth, split to his ears, biting into it.
"Why... why do the balls curve~?" Tanjiro wondered aloud, perplexed. The temari balls thrown by the female demon in front of him were incredibly powerful, but what he couldn't understand was how they could curve to attack them.
This made them immensely powerful and like guided missiles. Tanjiro was overwhelmed; just dodging was a struggle, let alone trying to cut off her neck.
"You... you even killed someone!" Tanjiro roared in anger. The hand the male demon held was still dripping with blood, clearly a fresh kill.
"This? Hehe, I just ran into her on the way. Seemed like she was looking for that traitor Tamayo. She looked young, so I ate her on a whim. Didn't expect the meat to be so tough," the male demon with eyes on his hands, Yahaba, cursed.
Tanjiro was enraged, about to use [Sixth Form: Twisting Whirlpool – Flowing] to deal with them, when an emotionless voice suddenly interjected.
"This male one... I'll take care of him..."
Under the dim starlight.
Remnants of torn clothing were scattered on the ground. Besides pools of blood, only a severed head remained. There was also a basket on the ground, meant for carrying medicine from Tamayo's, now lying forlornly to the side.
Uchiha Nagi's hand trembled as he reached for the head. He brushed aside the hair covering the face. It was Kagome...
This girl he had known for only a few days now lay here, eternally asleep. A cheerful smile still graced her lips. This was perhaps the only good news, as she might have died without feeling any physical pain.
Uchiha Nagi's hands wouldn't stop trembling, nor would his shoulders, his legs. It wasn't fear, but anger. Anger so intense his body trembled uncontrollably.
Suddenly, he lifted his head. The three tomoe in his eyes had already transformed into the plum blossom pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan. The Mangekyo spun ceaselessly, immense dojutsu power surging forth, emitting a sinister and powerful aura—